The Sombre Nightjar catches flying insects on the wing and lives in open stony bushland, scrub and grassland.
Its dark-brown upperparts are speckled gray-white and streaked blackish, with a broad tawny collar and white throat patch. Males have white spots on the wings and tail; females have pale buff spots.
It eats beetles, grasshoppers, moths and other insects, catching them on the wing.
It breeds on bare earth or sandy ground among grasses, often sheltered by bushes.
A female may perform an injury-feigning distraction when a threat approaches the nesting site.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.